Norris Tops Oscar Piastri in Sao Paulo Practice
The British driver has outscored his teammate at each of the last five grands prix.
Lando Norris narrowly beat team-mate and championship contender the Australian for the quickest lap in the dying seconds of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Norris, who seized the points lead from his teammate by just one point after winning in the Mexican Grand Prix a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by 0.023 seconds.
Earlier in the session, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver during the running before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.
The Red Bull star, the only other driver in the points battle, lying 36 points behind Norris, finished in 17th place as his team followed a different programme.
Verstappen's team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he spun at the fourth corner soon after starting.
Tsunoda lost control over the exit kerbs before sliding over the escape zone, and was blessed to get away with just a light touch of the barrier.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also spun, at the very end of the practice, spinning around through the quick descending Mergulho corner approaching the last turn on to the pit straight.
The veteran wrapped up in 19th, one place behind team-mate the Monegasque driver.
Norris and Piastri were significantly quicker of the rest of the field, with the German's car P3, 0.619 seconds slower than the Australian's time.
The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Gasly and Williams' Sainz.
